


The Blade's Child

by Altyn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Growing Up, Space Mall (Voltron), The Blade of Marmora - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-13 03:03:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21237086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altyn/pseuds/Altyn
Summary: The Blade of Marmora’s Headquarters might be in one of the most dangerous places in the universe, set between two black holes and a blue giant. What makes it dangerous also makes it secure from Zarkon and his forces. For a mother who has seen firsthand what horrors this war has brought about it might just be the best place she can think to raise her child.





	1. Prologue

Krolia neared the blue giant. She was still far enough away that the star and the two black holes nearby would have no effect on her ship, but she was close enough that she was sure the Blade had been alerted of her ships presence. Behind her she could hear her child fussing. Keith was only about a deca-phoeb old, an infant, he needed constant love and attention. Krolia got up from the pilot’s seat and went over to him.

“Hush kit, we’ve almost made it,” her voice was soft as she handed him a toy that he immediately shoved into his mouth. She smiled down at him and ran her hand through his fine hair.

  
The communication terminal beeped. An incoming transmission. Krolia hurried back to the pilots chair and answered the call. After confirming to the Blade that the ship belonged to her and that the next time safe passage to the Headquarters opened she’d be coming, Krolia asked to be put through directly to Kolivan.

  
Kolivan, being the one in charge, needed to know about Keith. He’d probably be angry, (Angry at the fact the Krolia got pregnant and that she had brought the child with her back to the base) but he wouldn’t turn the kit away. At least she hoped he wouldn’t.

  
“Krolia,” Kolivan was a little surprised to see her but one wouldn’t know it from looking at him ,”What brings you here? You should still be on an infiltration mission.”

  
“I’m afraid that particular mission ended in failure,” Krolia cringed as she spoke the word ‘failure’. It wasn’t often she failed a mission, although it was inevitable at times. “I do have some good news though.” She continued with filling Kolivan in on finding traces of a Lion on a backwater planet and then after a slight pause continued with the story of finding a mate and having a child. Surely that counted as good news too?

  
The Leader of the Blade was silent for a moment, long enough to make Krolia a bit nervous. “And where exactly is this child of yours?”

  
“Here. On my ship.”

  
A deep sigh.

  
“I couldn’t leave him there! He looks human now but who knows how his Galran blood will affect him as he grows. The people of Earth don’t even know aliens exist, if one of their doctors got ahold of-,”

  
“Krolia.” Kolivan stopped her ,”Please don’t tell me you plan to raise the child here. We are not equipped for children.”

  
“I can’t think of any other place to take him Kolivan.” It was quiet for a while as the two watched each other.

  
“When you get to the base I want to hear more about the Lion and it’s whereabouts. After that we can discuss what to do with you and your… kit.” Krolia let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

  
“Yes, sir.” The transmission ended quickly after that. There was still another quintant until the passage to the headquarters opened. Krolia went over and picked Keith up. She bounced him around a little making him smile and giggle. Whatever Kolivan decided they would make the most of.

* * *

“Keith! No!” The terrible twos were called that for a reason. Keith had reached the age of wandering off on his own two little feet and while Krolia had childproofed her rooms as much as possible he was still managing to wander into trouble. This time he had climbed (somehow) most the way up the bookshelf. The bookshelf that was as tall as the ceiling. That bookshelf. 

Krolia swept him into her arms holding him close with the image of him falling passing through her head. 

“You can’t do that Keith, it’s dangerous.” Keith smiled at his mother and reached back for the bookshelf. Krolia shook her head and gave up. She was going to have to get rid of the bookshelf. 

A knock came on the door. Krolia set Keith down on the floor and went to open the door coming face to face with Kolivan and his assistant Antok. 

“How’s the kit doing?” It took him a while to warm up to having Keith around but now Kolivan doted on the little one as if he was his own. 

“He’s doing great. Climbing on absolutely everything. I feel like I should just get rid of all the furniture at this point.” Krolia sighed and looked back at Keith who was once again trying to climb the bookshelf. Kolivan let out a short laugh and made his way over to pick up Keith.

“Climbing is good for kits. Let’s them build strength. One day he’ll be a fine warrior.” Antok spoke watching as Kolivan threw Keith in the air and caught him. The little one screeched and giggled.

“I’m sure he will be, but even then I will worry for him,” She was a mother after all.

“He will learn from the best of our Blades,” Kolivan told her ,”We will make sure he is prepared to survive and to thrive.” Keith was worth the universe to them after all. Perhaps that would also make him a bit spoiled in the future.


	2. The Vents

At 9 deca-phoebs old Keith was still climbing into trouble. This time it was the vents. While normally Keith cursed his small size, in this particular situation he did have to admit his human genes were helpful. 

Now, why was he in the vents? It was the only hiding place he could think of that Ulaz certainly wouldn’t find him and drag him back to his classes. Keith could only sit still and listen for so long.

He continued crawling forward. He’d been in the vents for nearly half a varga and had gotten a little lost. After a bit more crawling he started to hear voices. 

“The only place we might find one of those is an Unilu Swap Shop. I guess we’ll have to send someone on a trip to the Mall,” that voice was… Kolivan? Keith had heard of the Mall. A lot of stores, a lot of people, a lot of fun it seemed like. He’d never left the Blade’s headquarters before let alone gone to the Mall, but he definitely wanted to go.

Keith crawled a little more forward towards the grate that opened into Kolivan’s office. Maybe he could sneak onto the ship of whoever took the mall trip… The grate he climbed on top of whined and then collapsed as Keith fell into the room. 

“Keith?” Kolivan as well as Antok and Thace stared down at the kid. Keith gave them a guilty smile and stood up dusting himself off. 

“What are you doing in the vents,” Kolivan sighed ,”Don’t you have classes with Ulaz right now?” 

“Well… yea….” Keith looked everywhere but at Kolivan. He was the closest thing Keith had to a father figure and his disappointment hurt. It was quiet for a moment.

“Maybe you should run back to class?” Thace voiced amused by the whole situation. 

“But… I... ,” Keith got his thoughts put together ,”I want to go to the Mall.” He stuck his head up and stared directly at Kolivan who looked tired all of a sudden.

“Kit, you are not leaving the base, and that is final.”

  


* * *

On the way to the space mall Keith wouldn’t stop asking his mother questions. “How many stores are there? Ulaz says there’s a food court and that food courts have lots of stores with food. Can we eat while we’re there? Can I buy something? I know we have to go to the Unilu shop but can we look at other stores too? I wanna buy something.” Krolia could understand her kids excitement, he had never left the base before after all, but the questions were starting to get on her nerves.

“We’ll see kit.” was the phrase she kept using to answer him. She was technically on a mission right now and the mission came before any fun they might have.

They found a space to leave the ship and entered the Mall. People were everywhere. The mall was huge. Keith had grown up seeing the same small group of faces everyday and running around the now seemingly tiny base. His mouth dropped open in awe. 

“Mouth closed kit,” Krolia had a smile on her face ,”you’ll catch flies.” She held her hand out for him to grab and led him through the mall towards the Unilu Swap Shop. Keith stared at everything they passed and once they got to the shop went around looking at all the merchandise in the store while his mother bargained. It was over quickly. Krolia was good at bartering. 

“Let’s go kit, I have something I want to show you,” Keith’s mother dragged him away from the Unilu shop and towards a store selling Earth products. 

“Welcome to Terra! We’ve got all the cool terran gadgets and gizmos!” The Shopkeeps voice was full of excitement but his face looked like he was done with working here. Keith’s eyes were wide as he wandered the store. He’d heard stories about earth from his mother but that was all. She hadn’t brought any momentos of her time there. 

“You can buy one thing, Keith, take your time,” Krolia took a step back and watched her son browse from a distance while politely chatting with the shopkeep. Seemed like he didn’t get many customers around here. Keith carefully picked out a toy that said ‘Mighty Morphing Power Rangers’ on the box and handed it to the Shopkeep.

“Ah I like to call that one the Terran Voltron,” The Shopkeep nodded along ,”Ten Hundred GAC,” Krolia paid.

“Voltron?” Keith asked. 

“You’ve never heard of Voltron little one? It’s a legend, so called savior of the universe. Voltron is made from 5 lion ships that morph together just like this toy,” The Shopkeep handed the box back to Keith.

“Lion ships? Sounds fake,” Keith was skeptical ,”Aren’t lions animals?”

“They are,” Krolia answered ,”the ships are only made in the likeness of the animal,” 

“That just sounds weird.”

Krolia smiled and patted her son on the head ,”Really? I think it sounds cool,” 

Keith let out a snort ,”You always think weird things are cool. Can we go eat now?”

“Yes, we can go eat now,” Krolia waved the shopkeep goodbye and led her son towards the food court.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to write, but I'm enjoying myself so that's good at least.


	3. Kosmo

Keith zoomed past the rock formation on his hovercraft. After his outing to the mall, Keith was allowed trips outside the base every few pheobs. The trips were usually supervised by his mother but sometimes other Blades such as Ulaz or Antok would take him out for what they called ‘Learning Experiences’. Ulaz’s experiences were typically boring and had to do with culture or plants. Antok took Keith on the particularly fun adventures, like racing hovercrafts on an uninhabited planet.

Keith let out a whoop and slowed his craft down to a halt ,”Did you see how fast I was Antok? I totally won that round!” Antok who had definitely absolutely not let the kid win because he had a soft spot for him slowed to a stop next to Keith.

“You did well, kit,” 

“Can we go again?” 

Antok nodded and they were off. The large galra did have to admit that, while he wasn’t going all out against the child, Keith had taken to piloting the craft like a fish in water. Given a few months more practice Keith might win their races for real. He made a mental note to ask Kolivan about letting Keith learn how to pilot an actual spaceship. 

Keith and Antok raced a few more rounds until Keith had finally had his fill and then set out for their ship to head home. On the way Keith wound around rocks as if making a game of it. Antok didn’t pay much attention to it until all of a sudden Keith was gone.

“Keith!” Antok turned his hovercraft around and went searching for the kid ,”Keith!” 

“I’m over here,” 

Antok followed the voice finding Keith off his hovercraft and leaning over a hole between some rocks. Before Antok could speak again Keith put his finger to his lips. 

“I don’t want to scare him,” Keith spoke quietly. He leaned down and carefully stuck his hand near the opening in the rocks. Antok crept forward and took a peak at what Keith had found. It seemed to be a small wolf. 

“Careful kit,” Antok was ready to pull Keith out of harm's way if the wolf cub tried to bite. Keith just rolled his eyes and stuck his hand a little closer. The wolf cautiously sniffed and after a moment rubbed his head against Keith’s hand. 

“See… he’s a good wolf,” Keith pet the wolf who now was slowly creeping out of the rocks and closer to Keith. 

“He’s a wild animal.” Antok was still wary of the beast but at this point it was in Keith’s lap and Keith was showering it with love.

“He’s alone… Can I keep him?” Keith and the wolf both looked at Antok with wide eyes. Antok shifted uncomfortably.

“That’s up to Kolivan.”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Kolivan said yes to the space wolf, but only after a lot of begging and whining. Kosmo was officially welcomed into the Blade’s hideout. No longer was Keith alone in his mischief. A few months into Kosmo moving in the two of them were hiding from Ulaz. Keith was still technically capable of hiding in the vents, curse his small size, but crawling in there with Kosmo was too much of a hassle so they had to find other places to hide.

Places like a mostly empty storage closet where they could snack on some dried meat. Kosmo whined for another piece.

“Shh,” Keith hushed his pet while at the same time feeding him another chunk. Outside they could hear Ulaz talking.

“I swear it’s only my classes he skips,” Ulaz muttered to himself ,”All he cares about is fighting and flying, he doesn’t understand that my classes teach him the really important stuff.” Ulaz opened each door he passed one by one. Keith could hear him getting closer and readied himself to get caught. Kosmo shoved his face under Keith’s hand.

“Not now Kosmo,” Keith tried to shove the wolf away but he was insistent. The door to the closet started to open. Kosmo shoved his face under Keith’s hand one more time and teleported them to Keith’s bedroom, a few feet above his bed.

“Whaaa-!” The two fell down onto the mattress and pillows ,”Wha- How?” Keith looked at Kosmo who just blinked back ,”You did this?” Keith smiled wide ,”Oh, this is gonna be fun.”


	4. The Red Lion

When rumors first cropped up about the Lions of Voltron fighting against the Galra Empire, Keith didn’t believe it. Only after he saw that Kolivan and his mother were taking the rumors seriously did he start to listen. Only three of the Lions had been spotted. Blue, Yellow, and Green. Which made Keith wonder what had happened to the other Lions. Were they under Zarkons control? Or lost somewhere?

“What do you think, Kosmo?” The wolf was silently grooming himself and paid no attention to Keith.

At 20 deca-phoebs old, Keith had become a real member of the Blade of Mamora. He had passed the Trials set before him and had even been sent on a few missions. Kosmo came with him every time. After word came around that the Paladins of Voltron were outside headquarters and asking to be allowed in. Keith was one of the first blades dressed and ready to receive them.

“Line the walls,” Kolivan directed ,”Antok, Keith you’ll stand beside me. We must show no weakness, and remember, knowledge or death.” The Blades followed direction and readied themselves. Keith placed himself to the left of Kolivan’s dias and Kosmo sat down beside him.

The elevator door opened and two paladins were escorted into the room. They were human, which sort of surprised Keith. He’d never met any other humans before. One had black and white hair and wore black armour, the other brown haired in blue. Keith wondered if the color represented their lions and if perhaps the black lion had been found.

“I am Kolivan, leader of the Blade of Mamora.” his voice boomed with authority. The blue paladin took a step back. 

“My name is Shiro and this is Lance. We are paladins of Voltron.” the black paladin, Shiro, stood his ground. 

“I know who you are, and how you’ve come to this place, but what is it that you want from us.” Kolivan got straight to the point. 

“We want to ask for your help. We know the whereabouts of the Red Lion, it’s on a galran ship, but we don’t have enough personnel to infiltrate and retrieve the lion. We were hoping you could lend us a few of your agents. The Red Lion is the last lion we need in order to form Voltron and truly start pushing back against the Galra Empire.” This confirmed that they were in possession of the Black Lion already. 

“Is there a paladin ready to pilot the Lion? I hear the Lion’s are… picky with who they allow to fly them.”

“Princess Allura has been training alongside the rest of us paladins in preparation to pilot the Red Lion.” Shiro didn’t elaborate on what would happen if the lion rejected Allura. 

Shiro went into more details of the infiltration plans. Kolivan wasn’t impressed. The whole thing was too simple and straightforward, but getting the Red Lion away from the Galra Empire was of huge importance. So he agreed. 

  
  


* * *

Keith begged to go on the mission. He wanted to know more about the human paladins and the possibility of seeing a lion in real life was exciting. Kolivan, who had a hard time telling Keith no, relented. 

Keith, in extension Kosmo, and two other Blades formed the team sent to help retrieve the Red Lion. The plan was to have the blue and yellow lions distract the fleet while the green lion snuck the blades, Allura, and it’s paladin Pidge onboard the main ship. The black paladin Shiro stayed onboard the Castle of Lions where his lion was apparently trapped.

“Can you please keep that thing away from me,” Allura eyed Kosmo and Keith with distaste. She wasn’t very friendly with the Blades and it was clear that having them join on this mission was not her idea. The Galra had killed off her entire race though so Keith didn’t take it too personally. 

“He’s not a thing,” Keith scratched behind the wolf’s ear.

“Whatever the cool wolf alien is will have to wait, we’ve landed.” Pidge waved them all towards the lions exit and they made their way onto the Galra ship. “So which way is it princess?” 

“I’m not quite sure… I should be able to feel the lions quintessence calling to me but perhaps we are too far away…” 

“Maybe it would be a good idea to split up, cover more ground,” Illun, one of the blades suggested. A minute later they had split into two teams, one of Allura, Keith and Kosmo, the other, Pidge and the two Blades. They began their search. 

“Do you feel anything yet,” Keith and Allura had been wandering the ship for what seemed like a while.

“No, must you ask that every dobosh?”

Keith rolled his eyes as they kept moving forward. Something felt off to him, like someone was watching him. They ran into some sentries and quickly took them out but the feeling stayed the same. 

“Hey princess,” Keith was beginning to get uncomfortable. His instincts told him he needed to follow the feeling but they were going in the opposite direction ,”I think we should go this way.” 

Allura was ready to dismiss his comment but something in his voice made her pause ,”Alright. Lead the way.” More sentries lined the halls that Keith took them down. He wasn’t sure if that was promising or not, but sure enough they found the lion in a hangar. 

“The Red Lion…” Allura’s father had piloted the lion and now she believed it to be her turn but as she stepped up to the forcefield around the lion and put a hand on it, nothing happened. “No, this can’t be…” She banged on the shield ,”Please, you must let me pilot you. We need to form Voltron!” The Lion did nothing.

“Princess, if the lion isn’t going to react then we need to find another way to get it out of here.”Keith grabbed ahold of Allura’s shoulder and pulled her back. She grabbed onto his arm and yanked on it to get him away from her. The momentum pulled him right into the Lion’s forcefield which went down. Keith landed on the floor. 

“What the hell, princess!” Allura’s eyes were wide as she watched the lion move. It’s roar got the attention of Keith who quickly stood up.

“You’re the rightful paladin,” her voice was soft. Keith was stunned. He’d grown up on stories of Voltron and the paladins, but never did he think he could be one of them. They could hear more guards and sentries coming their way. Keith snapped out of his awed state.

“We need to get out of here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a fic before but I wanted more 'Keith growing up with the Blade' and figured I might as well write my own version.
> 
> I guess we will see how this goes...


End file.
